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Normally the Jets line up in a 3-4 alignment with 2 tight man CBs, 2 deep S's and the other 4 defenders in various configurations designed to confuse the QB reads and offensive line assignments. They rely on the CBs to effectively take the wide receivers out of the game, the 2 S's to minimize any big plays, and a wide variety of overload blitzes, designed to make the QB get rid of the ball quickly.

It interesting that the key to the Jets Blitz package is not necessarily to get to the QB, as they are almost as pathetic in getting sacks as the Pats are, BUT to create the IMPRESSION of pressure. To get the QB thinking that he has to get rid of the ball to the hot read quickly. In other words make him think he's under pressure even when he isn't. And generally its very effective. The Jets have a great reputation for creating pressure on the QB, even though its been a mirage for over a year

The Pats have had various degrees of success against that strategy, usually doing better the 2nd game of the year. In the playoff game last season, the Jets played a lot of tight 5 man underneath zones to "funnel" the Pats receivers inside and crowd the short to medium routes the Pats liked best. Revis took Branch out of the game. Welker had no room in the middle, Tate wasn't a factor, and the Pats decided that running the ball wasn't an option. That strategy surprised the Pats and they didn't adjust well. Brady was impatient all game, and ultimately missed a lot of open guys, even when he had time, because he was being frustrated in not getting the open routes he usually had.

Well OK, fool me once.....etc. And Rex knows it as well. So what does he do THIS year against an offense that is running the ball better than last year. The 2 (or 1) TEs have progressed as serious threats. Welker is other worldly, and Chad is a much better threat than Tate.

Well if I were Rex here's what I would do.

1.I would stay true to my basic philosophy. I want to design my schemes to confuse the OL and not give Brady any easy pre snap reads. So I will not do any one thing consistently

2. Since the Pats passing game is the best in the league, I will focus my plan to stop the pass. I want to see if the Pats have the patience to run the ball consistently from all formations. Having the Pats run the ball, even if they are marginally successful, takes time off the clock, limits the number of possession the Pats have, and keeps them from doing what they do best. I believe we can stop the Pats run game well enough to make them want to do what the really want to do, and that is pass the ball. I would count on that the Pats first instinct will be to PASS the ball in any key situation regardless of down and distance.

3. Formation wise I want to show them on non obvious passing downs a lot of nine men in the box looks. I want to create that image that they have to get the ball off quickly, while making it seem there isn't much room to run the ball. BUT i will rarely come with more than 5 men. You don't have to all out blitz much., you just have to make them THINK you will

4. So in my 8-9 men in the box alignments I will selectively overload blitz to one side or the other to create issues of blocking assignments, while keeping 6-7 men back in tight 4-5 under zone/man combinations to take away the bubble screens and quick passes to hot receivers.

5. In obvious passing downs, I will use the amoeba approach, and have just 2 down linemen set, and everyone else milling about, again with the object of giving Brady any pre snap reads, and confusing the OL assignments. From this I can run all the same overload blitzes from my package

6. So when Brady gets to the LOS I want him thinking is it coming from the left? Is it coming from the right? Are they all coming or will I be throwing into max coverage? I want Brady "guessing" at the LOS, unsure of what's coming. Even the best sometimes guess wrong, and even one or two TO's would be enough

Bottom line - Take away the outside receivers with my CBs, funnel everything else into a very crowded middle of the field, And while getting to the QB is important, creating the IMPRESSION of pressure is even more important.

Now that I've put it down, I have to say I wouldn't mind seeing the Pats run some of that stuff against Sanchez, who wouldn't handle that kind of confusion nearly as well as Brady will.

Let me know how you think the Pats would attack what I expect to see the Jets run.

2. Don't take the clock down under 5 seconds all the time. Quick snap to catch the Jets out of position.

3. Use the hurry up to keep their personnel in there. If they have 5+ DBs keep running it out of the hurry up. If they are in base pass. This will mean fewer personnel groups and I'd rather see them go 2 WR, 2TE and a RB. This is very dependent on Hernandez playing. This will also mean more plays in the game which favors the Pats.

4. Hit Gronk on some seam routes to keep the safeties back which will open up the run and room for Wes.

I'd also run at Cromartie's side again and again. He doesn't want to tackle. I'd love to see Mankins pulling and putting him on his @ss.

I think Ocho could be a key this week. Unless they are stupid and decide to stick Wilson on Welker. Ocho seems to be making some progress with 0 catches in week 1, 1 catch in week 2, 2 catches in week 3 and 3 catches in week 4 (with one getting taken away due to holding).

Hopefully he can break through and be that threat next to Welker and Gronk that makes our passing attack nearly unstoppable.

2. Don't take the clock down under 5 seconds all the time. Quick snap to catch the Jets out of position.

3. Use the hurry up to keep their personnel in there. If they have 5+ DBs keep running it out of the hurry up. If they are in base pass. This will mean fewer personnel groups and I'd rather see them go 2 WR, 2TE and a RB. This is very dependent on Hernandez playing. This will also mean more plays in the game which favors the Pats.

4. Hit Gronk on some seam routes to keep the safeties back which will open up the run and room for Wes.

I'd also run at Cromartie's side again and again. He doesn't want to tackle. I'd love to see Mankins pulling and putting him on his @ss.

Our offense is evolving. Their defense is declining. I use 2 TE sets all day long with a heavy dose of run. Open them up with a no huddle and gas them out, then send Ocho deep and often and see if he can catch it this time.

In order for them to commit 8 or 9 in the box, their 2ndary and LB's are going to have to play a perfect game. All it takes is 1 Gronk-Hernandez, Welker Branch etc to slant across the field getting behind the coverage and its 6 points. One bad backpedal and Brady will find it if they try dropping into coverage.

I went to the playoff game last season...as usual whenever the Pats get in the postseason..

Forget that Brady looked confused,the dropped TD pass,the mystifying special teams gaffe...I could have left that feeling "well,we had our shots but made too many mistakes..guess the better team won"...BUT....the one thing that galled me to no end,ate away at my older brother and my friends back at the tailgate was the time that little jumpy punk had in the pocket....we counted at the snap....1 one hundred 2 one hundred...this little glory boy "look at me!!" degenerate had 6 and 7 seconds to drop ,survey and throw to WR's deep in their patterns pulling doubles moves every play.

It was disgusting. I can see losing to a team that outhits you...but to a team with this little glory boy punk,this TURTLE in waiting? THAT is what got our goat that day. Now,we've all seen the changes...the scheme, the Haynesworth gamble,the inside blitzes in the first game...and we sit back and hope...hope that this Sunday, all this promise comes to fruition.

You ALL saw what happened last Sunday...the Ravens hit Jumpy Beans early, they hit him often and they hit him HARD. I want to see at least 50% of that from the Patriots defense...we get that and I guarantee this mutt collapses like the Tooter Turtle he IS and has always been. Win or lose, I want this punk to KNOW when you walk on that field at the Razor you ARE going to get smashed...hard....no more jumpy, glory boy, look at me antics on OUR field...EVER.

I went to the playoff game last season...as usual whenever the Pats get in the postseason..

Forget that Brady looked confused,the dropped TD pass,the mystifying special teams gaffe...I could have left that feeling "well,we had our shots but made too many mistakes..guess the better team won"...BUT....the one thing that galled me to no end,ate away at my older brother and my friends back at the tailgate was the time that little jumpy punk had in the pocket....we counted at the snap....1 one hundred 2 one hundred...this little glory boy "look at me!!" degenerate had 6 and 7 seconds to drop ,survey and throw to WR's deep in their patterns pulling doubles moves every play.

It was disgusting. I can see losing to a team that outhits you...but to a team with this little glory boy punk,this TURTLE in waiting? THAT is what got our goat that day. Now,we've all seen the changes...the scheme, the Haynesworth gamble,the inside blitzes in the first game...and we sit back and hope...hope that this Sunday, all this promise comes to fruition.

You ALL saw what happened last Sunday...the Ravens hit Jumpy Beans early, they hit him often and they hit him HARD. I want to see at least 50% of that from the Patriots defense...we get that and I guarantee this mutt collapses like the Tooter Turtle he IS and has always been. Win or lose, I want this punk to KNOW when you walk on that field at the Razor you ARE going to get smashed...hard....no more jumpy, glory boy, look at me antics on OUR field...EVER.

Yea if you give the kid time to throw he's a decent quarterback. Other part of the problem is he's mobile and our pass rusher's weren't the best tacklers(TBC is gone and Cunningham isn't playing?). Would love to see Gerrad Warren run over him again. Hopefully Haynesworth plays. I think Jets letting Edwards go for chump change is going to cost them. Burress can still probably be a good redzone target but Edwards killed the pats.

I am wondering what the Jets are going to be able to do on defense at this point. They lost Bryan Thomas for the year. Calvin Pace seems to be injured although no one seems to be talking about it over in Jets land (he was out on Wednesday, limited yesterday, and Manish Meta of the NY Daily News said he was seen getting treatment on the field yesterday). Yes, Aaron Maybin had a few good plays vs. the Ravens, but that was partially because Flacco held onto the ball too long and didn't protect it on the strip sack. I don't know if they are going to be able to pressure Brady with a depleted OLB corp.

They definitely won't go into this game with the same gameplan as they did in the playoffs. They weren't concerned with the run at all (which the Pats played into) by mostly playing in sub packages. With the emergence of Ridley, they have to respect the run now and their run defense has been inconsistent to say the least.

Also, they never played any safeties deep because they didn't fear a deep threat. Both Gronk and Hernandez (and even Welker a time or two) have provided a deep threat this season. That means they will have to put a safety over the top a lot more than they did in the playoffs which will open up the middle part of the field more (which they took away last time because they could play the safeties close).

The Jets will definitely have to employ a new strategy this time around. The question is which strategy will it be. Their lack of a strong pass rush and injuries to their top two OLBs are going to make it much harder to get Brady off his game. If they go back to a man coverage, they have some serious match up problems with the Pats' receivers. Welker vs. Wilson is a serious mismatch. Cromartie can't cover Branch or Welker and can't outphysical Gronk. Their safeties are slow. With Thomas out and Pace hurt, I don't know if they have any good coverage OLBs.

All this said, Ryan is still a very good defensive mind and could come up with a gameplan to shutdown the Pats' offense. It won't be the way he did it last time, but he might have a plan.

very good ideas to think about.
You said
"Bottom line - Take away the outside receivers with my CBs, funnel everything else into a very crowded middle of the field, And while getting to the QB is important, creating the IMPRESSION of pressure is even more important."

What about the following:
Two outside receivers, say Branch and Hernandez (if healthy maybe Price), take Cro and Wilson deep.
Then say Wes eludes his guy (Revis probably ) and goes to left or right side line.
Say 5 rush Brady as you suggest (let it be 3 Dline men 1 LB and 1 Safety).

That leaves Gronk and say Ridley for the middle defended by 1 LB and a Safety.
If Gronk gets double teamed ... Ridley is wide open.
If not Gonk will win most of those one on one match ups.

I think the main thing is to keep Wes from going into traffic. Wes can be a
very effective decoy considering his success. Get him to go from inside to outside to clear out the middle. If he brings his guy inside then yes it gets crowded. That is what happened in the playoffs.

In BB's weekly play analysis this week, he showed the play where Wes did
just that for a TD. Maybe BB picked that play to emphasize to Rex what will happen if he tries that stuff again.

If JETs only rush 4 then TB should have plenty of time to find a
receiver who will eventually get open.

Bottom line - Take away the outside receivers with my CBs, funnel everything else into a very crowded middle of the field, And while getting to the QB is important, creating the IMPRESSION of pressure is even more important.

Click to expand...

That worked in the playoffs, but I don't think that will work this time around. They could flood the middle of the field with DBs last year because the Pats had no deep threat or running game. With Gronk going down field a lot, they need to keep a safety over the top. With Ridley emerging, they can't have 5-6 DBs on the field on almost every down.